Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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now registered as belonging to Cork. There are two ship-
building yards, each having a patent slip in which ves-
sels of 500 tons can be hauled up and repaired: vessels
of every size to 400 tons have been built in these yards.
At Passage there are two ship-building yards, one of
them having a very fine dry dock: these establishments
employ about 200 hands. During the year ending Jan.
5th, 1836, 164 British ships of the aggregate, burden of
29,124 tons, and 27 foreign ships of 2912 tons aggregate
burden, employed in the foreign trade, entered inwards j
and 69 British and 20 foreign ships, of the aggregate
burden of 10,098 tons, cleared outwards: in the trade
with Great Britain, 2246 vessels of all kinds, of 226,318
tons aggregate burden, entered inwards, and 1384 of
166,516 tons aggregate, cleared outwards: and in the
intercourse with Irish ports, 406 vessels, of 18,564 tons
aggregate burden, entered inwards; and 596 of 20,384
tons aggregate cleared outwards. The amount of duties
paid at the custom-house for the same year was
£216,446. 1. 7- and of Excise for the same period
£25*2,452. 14. 6½. The superior facilities afforded by
steam navigation have given an extraordinary impulse
to the trade of this port: the agricultural produce of
all the western parts of the country south of Limerick
is brought hither for exportation, in return for which,
groceries, woollen and cotton goods, and other commo-
dities are received. The completion of the great
Western railway from Bristol to London will tend to a
still further extension of this profitable system of inter-
change, by expediting the conveyance of live stock,
provisions, and other Irish produce to London. In 1821,
two steam-boats were employed by a Scottish Company
to trade between Cork and Bristol, but, from drawing
too much water, did not remain on this station more
than six months, after which the boats of the Bristol
Company traded for some time, and in 1825 the St.
George’s Company introduced a line of packets between
Cork and Liverpool, and afterwards between Cork and
Bristol, which have been ever since continued, and
have engrossed the entire carrying trade of the port
by steam. The capital of this company amounts to
£300,000, subscribed in shares, of which one-third are
held by Cork proprietors. It now employs seven ves-
sels of about 500 tons’ burden and 250-horse power
each; two of these ply to Bristol, one to Liverpool,
three to London, and one to Dublin: all carry pas-
sengers, goods, and cattle. The company’s office, built
on Peurose’s quay in 1.832, is a neat building with an
entrance porch, of the Doric order surmounted by a pe-
diment on four Ionic columns, above which is a sculp-
ture of St. George and the Dragon. Four smaller
steam-boats ply daily between Cork and Cove. The
American Steam-Packet Compuny’s, vessels will touch
here on their way to and from Liverpool. Rail-roads
to Cove, Passage, and Limerick, are in contemplation.
The noble harbour of Cork, which gave rise to the
motto of the city, “Staiio bene fida carinis” is admirably
adapted to all the purposes of the most extended com-
merce; and from its convenient situation, the perfect
security with which numerous fleets may winter in a
land-locked basin, and its excellent anchorage at all
times, it became in time of war the rendezvous of large
fleets and convoys, and the port from which the British
navy was supplied with all kinds of provisions cured
and prepared in a superior manner. The number of
small craft on the coast, and of fishing hookers, pilot
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boats, lighters, and pleasure yachts in the river; the
dense population of its shores, inured to hardships and
privations, and other considerations, tended to render
Cork in the estimation of British statesmen one of the
most important places in the empire: and the vast ex-
penditure of public money for supplies during the war;
the detention at Cove, sometimes for months together,
of large fleets of war, and powerful expeditions, with
vast numbers of merchant vessels; the sums laid out
on public works in the harbour, the barracks at Cork,
Ballincollig, and Fermoy, the powder-mills at Ballincol-
lig, and various other works, for many years gave an
extraordinary impulse to its commercial prosperity.
What is considered more peculiarly the harbour is
situated nine miles below the city, opposite the town of
Cove, where ships of any burden may ride in safety;
the best anchorage for large ships is off Cove fort, now
dismantled and occupied as a naval hospital, where there
are from 5 to 8 fathoms of water; vessels of great
draught can pass up the river as far as Passage, within
five miles and a half of the city, where they discharge
and load by means of lighters; and vessels drawing
only 14 or 15 feet of water can proceed to the town
quays. On the east side of the entrance from the sea
to the harbour is Roche’s Tower lighthouse, having ten
lamps which exhibit a steady deep red light towards the
sea, and a bright light towards the harbour. The only
naval dep6t and victualling-yard in Ireland were at
Cove, but the establishment now consists merely of
an agent and two clerks, and is maintained at an
expense of £225 per annum. During the war and for
several years after this was the port station of an ad-
miral having a large fleet under his command; but the
admiral’s flag and the navy have been withdrawn, and
at present, the King’s flag is seldom seen on the Irish
coast, except on the Lord-Lieutenant’s yacht. On Hal-
bowling island are the spacious and admirably de-
signed naval storehouses, tank, and other requisites,
now abandoned; on Spike island are powerful batteries
commanding the entrance of the harbour, and on Rocky
island is the depot for gunpowder. The ballast office,
situated on Lapp’s island, was established by act of the
1st of Geo. IV., cap. 52, which also provided for the
regulation of pilots and the improvement of the port
and harbour, by a Board of Harbour Commissioners
consisting of the mayor, two sheriffs, the parliamentary
representatives of the city, five members of the common
council, and 25 merchants, of whom the five senior
members go out annually in rotation. Among the
various improvements made by this board is the line of
quays extending on both sides of the river from the
North bridge on the north channel, round the eastern
extremity of the island, to Parliament bridge on the south,
a distance of one statute mile and a half. From the end
of Penrose’s quay a new line extending eastward is now
nearly completed, and the marsh lying between it and
the lower Glanmire road is in course of drainage: when
this is accomplished the main central portion of the city
will be encompassed with a noble line of quays, 18 feet
high and nearly four statute miles in extent, built and
coped with limestone principally from the quarries on
the Little island and Rostellan. From 1827 to 1834
not less than £34,389 was expended on new quays from
the proceeds of the harbour dues. The commissioners
have also made an important improvement by deepen-
ing the bed of the river, which formerly admitted only